Junior doctors announce new 72-hour strike as pay talks collapse
Junior doctors will walk out for 72 hours in June after the latest round of pay talks collapsed.
The strike will take place in England from 7am on Wednesday, June 14 until 7am on Saturday, June 17.
The British Medical Association, which represents doctors and medical students in the UK, said the government's five per cent pay increase offer "is an insult to junior doctors in England".
They wrote: "Today, we announce a 3rd round of industrial action from 14 – 17 June.
"The Government’s 5% pay increase offer is an insult to junior doctors in England.
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"There’s nothing junior about junior doctors, yet our pay has been cut by 26.1% since 2008. We’re simply asking to be paid what we are worth.
Junior doctors while on strike in April (Getty Images)"The Government know this is not a credible offer, it’s a delaying tactic. They’ve left us with no option but to return to the picket lines.
"They have failed to recognise our pay erosion, failed to recognise our efforts through COVID and are now failing us and the NHS again.
"When ministers are ready to address pay restoration and make a credible offer, we’ll be ready to talk. They can end this dispute tomorrow.
"Until then, we will keep striking throughout the summer, for as long as we have a mandate. Stick together, fight together, win together."
Last month, BMA members downed tools as part of a four-day strike as they face an ongoing row with the Government over wages, with some being paid as little as just £14 an hour.
Around 50,000 doctors staged pickets outside hospitals across England, with some telling how they are struggling to afford groceries and borrowing money to pay rent.
Crowds gathered as people take part in a junior doctor's strike in Trafalgar Square last month (Getty Images)Health Secretary Steve Barclay decribed the timing of the strikes as "regrettable", and that his "door is open" for talks - but described the 35% pay rise as "not reasonable".
Downing Street said there will be no talks with the BMA unless junior doctors abandon their starting position of a 35% rise and call off the strikes.
Professor Sir Stephen Powis, national medical director for the NHS in England, said the strikes will cause "unparalleled" upheaval and will be the "most disruptive in NHS history".
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It was estimated that some 350,000 appointments and operations have been rescheduled as a result of the action as senior doctors and other medics who are not on strike have been diverted to cover services such as A&E and maternity care.
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